Fwd: WIO Press Release on COP 15

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ranjan Panda <ranjanpanda@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Subject: WIO Press Release on COP 15
To: waterinitiatives orissa <waterinitiativesorissa@gmail.com>

Dear Editor/Correspondent/Reporter,
Greetings from Water Initiatives Orissa !
Please find attached a press release coinciding with the COP 15.
May we request you to kindly give it appropriate coverage in your
esteemed media.
Look forward to your support and cooperation.
Thanks and regards,
Truly,
Ranjan
Press Release
from
Water Initiatives Orissa
Orissa Farmers' Agenda for the World Leaders attending COP 15
Withdraw your support from polluting industries, invest in organic
agriculture and remunerate us at par with the government and corporate
employees.  We will not commit suicide and you will not have to spend
so much to discuss 'food insecurity due to climate change'.
Sambalpur, 7th December 2009 - The Fifteenth Conference of the Parties
to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Fifth
Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 15 and COP/MOP 5)
begins today, just a day after the Orissa Legislative Assembly's
current session was wrapped up in a hush half way through.  The
otherwise strong and majority government of Orissa has been in
tremendous pressure both from farmers and opposition parties for two
reasons - one, for the serial suicides by farmers and; two, the huge
mining scam running to hundreds of crores.
As it's build up for the COP 15, Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO) ( a
network of civil society organizations and other concerned individuals
including researchers, academia, media persons, working on water and
climate change issues for about a decade now) met hundreds of farmers
and rural population to collect their 'agenda' for the world leaders
who would be negotiating the future of this world at COP 15.  These
included the widows and orphans of farmers who have committed suicide
this year due to failure of agriculture owing to delayed and deficient
rainfall.  As expected, the people have set in an 'agenda' that would
not only help Orissa fight food insecurity in a changing climate
scenario but also teach the world some lesions on sustainable ways to
adapt to climate change.
WIO team received thousands of interesting and heart touching
suggestions, appeals and warnings from the farmers it met.  This list
is just a short one in which we have tried to capture the essence of
what the people would like to convey to the world leaders. In doing
this, WIO has taken care that people's own language and way of
communication is retained to the maximum extent possible.
We are climate's widows and orphans.  It is failing us more regularly
and intensely than ever before.  The recent suicides by our
husbands/fathers/fellow farmers are because of the delayed and
insufficient rainfall which increased the heat in the area so much
that the insects like swarming caterpillars stayed for longer days and
multiplied in thousands damaging our standing crops overnight.  Our
government is offering us peanuts in terms of ex-gratia payments and
subsidies in sprayer machines.  Ask our government to understand the
real problem that is 'climate change' caused by its faulty policies
and do something that will last.
We are poor farmers still depending on rain God for our farming.  We
gave our lands for the mighty Hirakud Dam but yet to get assured
irrigation ourselves.  The government is now giving away the water to
industries which are as such taking all our ground water, polluting
our rivers and increasing the heat of our areas further.  Ask our
government to stop this disparity and give us assured irrigation from
small irrigation systems including farm ponds that we can manage
ourselves.
We have been protecting our forests but the government is destroying
it through mining and other industrial projects.  The urban people are
also using lot of our forests for their luxury.  We have survived on
the forests and organic agriculture.  Ask our government to give us
complete right over the forest resources and stop further destruction
of the same in the name of industrial development that is causing
further damage to the environment and contributing to climate change.
We have heard that there are Agriculture Universities in our state
where agriculture scientists are there to support us in making farming
a profitable affair.  Do you know while at the time of independence, a
teacher was getting 20 rupees as monthly salary, now they are drawing
more than 20 thousand rupees.  And this is further more for officers
and the above agriculture officials and scientists must also be
drawing several thousand as salary. We have heard that the President
of India gets one lakh and fifty thousand rupees as salary.  All of
you call that India is a country of farmers and for farmers.  Why then
we get only 700 to 800 rupees per 100 kgs of paddy?  At the time of
independence of our country, two bags of paddy fetched 10 grams of
gold.  You better know the price now.  Why is it only in our case that
remuneration has not grown?  What these agriculture officials and
scientists have done then? Please ask our government to shut all these
agriculture universities and offices.  Also ask all those officials
and scientists to return all the remuneration and other facilities
they have derived over the last several decades.
As such also whatever knowledge we have got from these officials has
damaged our ways of ecological farming.  We were better off earlier
with our ways of organic farming.  Your officials taught us to switch
to chemical farming.  Our costs of production have grown to provide
you food security and we are starving and committing suicide.  Ask our
government to promote institutions which could teach us farming that
would not only be profitable but also protect the ecology.  Establish
these institutions in remote areas from the money recovered from your
agriculture officials and scientists.  And if that money falls short,
recover the hundreds of crores from the mine owners that have not only
cheated the public exchequer but also polluted the environment beyond
damage.  And one more thing, make the farmers owners and trainers in
these institutions.
We had never seen farmers in rain fed areas committing suicide.  As
you may be aware more than 20 farmers have already ended their lives
within a span of two months.  This is all because of your faulty
policies and the climate change caused by the industries, mining and
other projects that you are promoting in our vicinity.  The way you
people are living your lives is all against the nature's law of
survival.  You have caused climate change and we are bearing the
brunt.  Ask our government and your investors to dismantle all these
projects and promote agriculture instead.
Provided your support we can feed the whole world from our crop
fields.  So, withdraw your support from polluting industries and
invest in organic agriculture and remunerate us at par with the
government and corporate employees.  We will not commit suicide and
you will not have to spend so much to discuss 'food insecurity due to
climate change'.
For further information, please contact us at:
Ranjan K Panda
Convenor, Water Initiatives Orissa
Sambalpur 768 005, Orissa, INDIA
Cell: +91-94370-50103
--
Ranjan K Panda
Convenor, Water Initiatives Orissa
Dhanupali, Sambalpur 768005, Orissa, INDIA
Mobile: +919437050103
Alt email: ranjanpanda@yahoo.com
Skype: ranjan.climatecrusader
A TRULY EVOLVED BEING IS ONE THAT VALUES OTHERS MORE THAN IT VALUES ITSELF....
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